Stock feeder for punch presses



Jan. 15, 1935; .A. RAICHE 8 STOCK FEEDER EOR PUNCH PRESSES I Fil ed Nov. 9, 1931 hall? Patented Jan 1 5,- 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT-"OFFICE."

STOCK FEEDER FOR PUNCH raussns Andrew Baiche, Quincy, assignor to The National Marking Machine Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application November 9, 1931, Serial No. 573,909

3 Claims.

a comparatively large spool or reel, so it may be fed therefrom to the press. One difliculty with devices of this kind resides in the fact that it is impossible to rotate the spool of stock intermittently at the speed at which the press operates without breaking the strip of stock, due to the inertia of the stock on the spool.

It is therefore the object of my invention to provide in an automatically operated punch press, having stock feeding mechanism to feed the stock intermittently, improved means for supporting and carrying the stock and feeding it to the stock feeding mechanism in such manner that the intermittent movement of the stock will not cause it to be severed.

More specifically it is the object,of my invention to'provide improved means for'supporting a reel of thin sheet metal stock, and for operat- 7 rangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrating an automatic stamping press and the manner in which my improved stock feeding mechanism is applied thereto. 1 i

Figure 2 is an end elevation of same.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view of the clutch mechanism for revolving the stock supporting reel and the electric solenoid for moving the clutch out or operative relation with the reel.

Figure 4 is a. detail view of the mechanism fo operating the press feeder.

Referring to the accompanying drawing I have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate the base of a punch press, having a standard 11 and a press 12 supported thereon. Said press 12 includes an operating shaft 13 having a drive pulley 14 for operating said shaft. The shaft 13 has a crank 15 designed to operate the punch plunger 16 by means of the connecting rod 1'1. I

The plunger 16 is designed to support a die 18 designed to co-operate with a die 19 carried by the upper end of the standard 11. The parts are of the usual construction.

- Adjacent to one end of the member 11 is what I shall term a press feeder 20, which includes rolls 21 and 22 supported in a suitable frame 23. The roll 22 is operated by means of a ratchet 24 carried by a shaft 25 to which the roll 22 and the ratchet 24 are connected.

Pivotally mounted on the shaft 25 is an arm 4 26 supporting a. pawl 2'1 so arranged that as' the lower end of the arm 26 is oscillated, the ratchet 24 and the roll 22 will be intermittently rotated in an anti-clockwise direction, as illus-. trated in Figure 4. I

For oscillating the arm 26 I have provided a link 28, one end of whichis connected to said arm, and its opposite end to a bell crank lever 29, said lever being secured to the upper end of the standard 11. A link 30' has one end connected to the bell crank lever 29 and its opposite end to a crank 31 carried by one end of the shaft 13, in such a manner that each time the shaft 13 rotates through onerevolution, the stock feeding roll 22 is advanced a fraction of va revolution, thus providing means whereby a strip of stock 32 may be fed intermittently to position between the dies 18 and 19.

For supporting the stock, I have provided a standard 33 which is carried by the base 10. Supported on the standard 33 is a bracket 34 designed to support a shaft 35. Supported on the shaft 35 is a stock reel 36 comprising two parallel and spaced disks 3'1 and 3s. 'A core 39 1 is secured to the disk 37 and rotatively mounted onthe shaft 35. The disk 38 is detachably carried by theshaft 35 which permits the coil of stock to be placed thereon for operation.

, Pivotally supported on the shaft 35 is anarm 40 having a friction clutch device 41 pivotally mounted toits upper end and designed to engage the periphery of the disk 37 vwhen the arm 40 is rotated in an anti-clockwisedirection, as illustrated in Figure 1, and to slip over the periphery as the arm is moved in the opposite direction without rotating the disk.

Pivotally connected to the arm 40 is a link,

42'having its forward end pivotally connected to a bell crank 43, said bell crank being connected to the plunger 16 by means of a bracket 44 and a link 45, in such manner that each time the plunger 16 moves downwardly, the link 42 is moved forwardly, which in turn will cause the arm 40 to be-moved forwardly and the reel 36rotated. The stock is placed on the reel in such a .manner that it will be unwound by said rotation to form slack in the form of a loop 46. By this arrangement it, will be seen that each stroke of the connecting rod 42' will advance the reel through a predetermined angular movement, suiiicient to feed stock to the press when the stock is nearly consumed from the reel.

It is evident that when the reel is full of stock the material will be feda great deal faster than .it can be consumed by the press, due to v the difference between the inner and. outer diameters of the coil of stock. It is, therefore, necessary to provide means whereby the clutch 41 may be caused to become inoperative'when a certain predetermined amount of slack stock has been unreeled.

This I have accomplished by providing a bracket 47 carried by the upper end of the support 33 and pivoted to one end of the bracket 47 is a .lever 48. The back end'of the lever 48 is designed to engage a pin 49 projecting from the member 41 in such a manner that when the free end of the lever 48 is elevated, it will engage said pin '49 and cause the member 41 to be lifted from the periphery of the disk 37. An adjustable counterweight 50 is provided for the forward end of the arm 48.

The bracket 47 is also designed to support a casing 51 in which is mounted an electric solenoid having a downwardly extending core 52, the lower end of which is connected to the arm 48, and so arranged that when the solenoid is energized by suitable electric current, the said arm 48 will be elevated, causing the clutch member 41' to be elevated.

The solenoid is included in an electric circuit including conductors 53 and 54. Said conductors are connected to any suitable current supply, such as utilized for operating the press. The

conductor 54 terminates in a contact plate 55 supported by the member 33 and insulated' therefrom. The contact 55 is located below the reel 36 a considerable distance to be engaged by the loop 46 of the stock when a predetermined amount of the stock has been unreeled. The reel and stock are grounded by the conductor- 53, so that as the stock 'engages the plate 55,

the electric circuit is closed.

The solenoid 51 is included in the conductor 53.so that when the saidcircuit is closed it will be energized and the arm 48 lifted in the manner above described, causing the clutch member 41 to be elevated and the rotation of the reel 36 discontinued until after the slack stock has been consumed and the circuit broken by lifting the loop 46 from the plate 55.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided, in connection with an automatically operated feed mechanism for punch presses, improved means for unreeling the stock in such manner that slack stock willalways be fed to the press feeding mechanism in such a manner that the intermittent feeding of the stock will not cause, it to be broken due to the sluggish action of the reel. I

Furthermore, it will be seen that I have provided improved electrically operated means for controlling the reel operating mechanism, which is very simple and reliable in its operation.

I claim as my invention: v

1. In adevice of the class described, the .combination of a stock feeder, a storage reel including a disk, an arm pivoted adjacent to said disk, a 'clu ch member carried by the free end of said arm adapted to engage the periphery of said disk to rotate the reel in 'one direction, whereby stock thereon will be unwound to provide slack, means for oscillating said arm, an electric circuit including a contact member adapted to be engaged by slack material to close 2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a stock feeder, a storage reel including a disk, an arm pivoted adjacent tosaid disk, a clutch member carried by the free end of said arm adapted to engage the periphery of saiddisk to rotate the reel in one direction, whereby stock thereon will be unwound to provide slack, means for oscillating saidarm, an electric circuit, means actuated by slack materialfrom said reel for opening and closing said circuit, an electric solenoid in said circuit, and means actuated by said solenoid to cause'the clutch member to disengage the periphery of' said disk.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a stock feeder, a storage reel, means for 'imparting motion to said reel to unwind stock thereon, an electric circuit including a portion of said stock and a contact member, said contact member being adapted to be engaged by a slack portion of said stock to close said circuit,

and an electrically operated means in said cirsuit for controlling said operating means for' starting and stopping said reel.

ANDREW. 

